4. They utter mere words;with empty oaths they make covenants;so judgment springs up like poisonous weeds in the furrows of the field.
5. The inhabitants of Samaria tremblefor the calf of Beth-aven.Its people mourn for it, and so do its idolatrous priests—those who rejoiced over it and over its glory—for it has departed from them.
6. The thing itself shall be carried to Assyriaas tribute to the great king.Ephraim shall be put to shame,and Israel shall be ashamed of his idol.
7. Samaria’s king shall perishlike a twig on the face of the waters.
8. The high places of Aven, the sin of Israel,shall be destroyed. Thorn and thistle shall grow upon their altars,and they shall say to the mountains, “Cover us,”and to the hills, “Fall on us.”
9. From the days of Gibeah, you have sinned, O Israel;there they have continued.Shall not the war against the unjust overtake them in Gibeah?